


taste of euphoria

by iwishii



Series: you're with me, relax [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Accidental Mating, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Forced Abortion, M/M, Mating Bites, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Reginald is a POS, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-17 19:34:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18105020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwishii/pseuds/iwishii
Summary: Reginald's refusal to have Grace teach the children about secondary sex ends up having life changing consequences when the six of them present, and a spar between Diego and Klaus goes wrong.





	1. Chapter 1

  
One of the main problems with Sir Reginald Hargreeves, along side the plethora of other issues hidden from public eyes, was that he was prudish to a fault. Any and all discussions of reproductive functions were forbidden from the children’s teachings, and his wrinkled face drew up into a scowl whenever Pogo would bring up the necessity of teaching the children eventually: sharply reminding the ape it was improper, and shot down any plans for Grace to educate the children.

He came from an older era, one where secondary sex was never talked about openly. When a teenager presented, they were ushered away behind closed doors by elders of their sex and taught in private about what they had to do and what was expected of them now. There would be no mention of it before that time, outside of small indicators that a secondary sex existed.

Frankly, it disgusted him that the media would so openly ask the Umbrella Academy about the topic.

“Have any of you presented yet?” The interviewer asked, her smile kind but her eyes hungry for the elicit details. Reginald’s head turned at breakneck speed, snapping away violently from the book he was reading to glare daggers at the interviewer.

Six perplexed eyes blinked at her.

“I’m sorry...” Allison tried, trailing off in confusion.

The Alpha interviewer inclined her head. “Come on now, you’re coming up for it. Pretty much everyone presents by the time they’re seventeen. As I understand it, you all celebrated your sixteenth birthday just last week: and might I add, happy belated birthday”

A quick chorus of thank you’s was interrupted by the crack of a book behind slammed against a table. The Academy flinched and the interviewer jumped in her seat, instinctively growling at the shock.

“That is quite enough! This interview is over” Reginald seethed, thanking the stars that this was an interview for a magazine and not on live television. “Grace, escort Ms. Cresswell out at once. Children, return to your scheduled five pm activities”

In a rush of movement all six teenagers jumped up to do as they were told, while the interviewer blustered.

“Wait, but Sir Hargreeves I’m not done: I still have a dozen more questions, I can’t-” She shouted after him as he marched away, signifying he was also done listening to her, and Cresswell broke off when Grace’s disconcerting smile popped into her view.

Grace gestured out into the foyer. “Please follow me and I’ll grab your coat”

Cresswell looked at Grace beseechingly. “I can’t go back to my boss with just this” She flapped her half empty notepad at the robot. “This is going to be a three page spread. Three pages! Can’t fill three pages on only six questions, and I never got any statements from Number Two at all”

With a hand between Cresswell’s shoulder blades, Grace forcibly ushered the woman out into the foyer. “I’m very sorry, but the children can’t answer anymore questions at this time. I understand this places you in a difficult position, but Sir Hargreeves has spoken”

Even though she was an Alpha, Cresswell was still slight of frame and no match for the strength of an android. Less than three minutes after asking her last question, Cresswell found herself standing outside the gates of the Umbrella Academy with her coat tossed at her and interview notes so short she knew she would have to pull something real good out of the bag to keep her job. This was her chance and she’d somehow blown it.

She growled to herself as she stormed away, quietly pleased when people jumped to get out of the path of an angry Alpha. No way was she letting the millionaire steal her chances of career success.

A week later and Reginald was enraged to read a three page spread split between what few questions Cresswell had gleaned and a fantastical article exposing his reluctance to have the Academy talk about secondary sex complete with speculations as to why that was, meanwhile Cresswell earned herself a promotion for rocketing their issue sales by ten percent that week, solely thanks to her piece.

When Allison asked if they could read the article, Reginald sharply told them such mindless drivel would rot their brains and ordered them never to mention the interview nor the final question ever again.

* * *

 

When Diego wakes up he feels as though he hasn't rested at all. His skin buzzed, his bones ached. He felt an itch but couldn't determine where it was. The feeling makes him agitated, irritable to a dangerous level and he finds himself pulling on his uniform with unusual heat as he goes about the morning routine.

The others noticed, Ben even let out a squeak as Diego stormed past him to get to the stairs first. He ate his food, ignoring the harsh glare from Luther and the way Allison can't seem to go longer than a few seconds without huffing.

"Children" Reginald addressed them as Grace started collecting up their plates. The word would usually have Diego's back straightening and his attention peaked, but this time it annoyed him. Children? They were sixteen years old. They hadn't been children since the first time Reginald sent them out to hurt and even kill criminals. "Meet in the gymnasium, you will be practising grappling. Number Three, you will join me for you designated training. Number Seven, you will continue with arithmetic"

And then he strutted out with his usual flair. Diego had never been more glad that Reginald didn't have breakfast with them.

When Klaus passed him Diego's senses were filled with something indiscernible. Warm. Smoky. Luther shot him a bemused look as he passed next, quirking a self-righteous brow at Diego's low rumble that Two had not meant to release.

The gymnasium was the biggest room in the house outside of the main living area. To the right, the entire wall was mirrored so the children could easily study their fighting movements, and lined along the other walls were a dozen different kinds of weapons reserved for supervised sessions. It takes everyone ten minutes exactly to run back to their rooms, change into their gym clothes, and arrive in the gymnasium: all terrified of the punishment of being even a minute late for Reginald's strict schedules. Instead of the Monocle looming over them, sharp eye studying each and every move they made, Pogo sat with a book in his lap and a whistle around his neck.

Training sessions like this one were normal. Routine. Necessary but low priority. With Allison ushered off for her specialist training it was easy for the remaining four to pair off. Pogo blew the whistle once to indicate it was time to commence sparring.

For the first half hour Diego fights Luther with more vigour than he's ever felt before. He can see it on Luther's face that he hadn't expected so much aggression from his brother, and even with his super powered strength he struggled against every slam, kick and punch Diego swung his way. Diego had never felt anything like it. His pulse in his ears, thundering loud, and the rush of movement, like his entire body was singing but it still wasn't right... something was still amiss and it ignited a new rage inside him every time Diego thought that perhaps maybe he had beaten out his agitation.

Pogo blew his whistle. "Change" He ordered, firmly but with none of the same suffocating authority Reginald practised.

With feral satisfaction, Diego noted Luther seemed tired, a feat Diego had never been able to achieve before. It inflated his ego and made him puff out his chest subconsciously, unbelievably pleased to have for once matched against father's favourite.

His snide smirk faded when Luther switched with Klaus, the corners of his mouth dropping into a surprised 'oh' as a waft of Klaus' scent drifted over to him.

While Luther was only slightly winded, Klaus' chest was heaving and his eyes were wide. He seemed feverish with his hands shaking and his long limbs covered in a sheen of sweat. Ben and Klaus never fought as hard as the others did, they could never bring themselves to hit like they should no matter how many times Luther told them that they needed to push each other now to potentially save their lives later in the field. So it seemed odd to see Klaus so flushed, given when Diego looked over at Ben, Six was nowhere near as strung up.

Ben shrugged at Diego, looking worried despite his nonchalant action, and Diego pursed his lips.

Klaus' wild gaze snapped up to Diego as Pogo blew the whistle again. His nostrils flared as Diego's did and in the back of Diego's mind he wondered what Klaus smelt.

To their right Diego can hear Luther swing at Ben, and the slighter young man ducking in time, but finds himself frozen on the spot. He'd sparred with Klaus before, he knew his brother's quirks and tells, and had started to win most of their fights ever since they turned fifteen, so it's nothing new to grab at Klaus' slender wrist and jump out of the way of Klaus' swinging leg intent to knock him over.

It's nothing new, nothing peculiar, about any of it and yet Diego couldn't bring himself to raise a hand against Klaus this time. In his mind he planned out the entire fight, knowing intimately how Klaus would move and eventually lose because his heart was never in the fight as much as Diego's was, but the thought of raising his fist to try and catch Klaus in the gut makes his own churn.

"Number Two, Number Four: commence!" Pogo reminded them harshly. In his peripherals, Diego could see Luther slam Ben down into the mat and then offer him a hand back up. Ever the honourable opponent, ever the chivalrous favourite...

Pogo's words and the sound of Ben sitting the mat snapped the pair to attention, and instead of Diego throwing the first punch it's Klaus: who jerked forward to jab sharp fingers into Diego's ribs. The movement is aborted when Diego's brain suddenly wakes up and parries, swatting away and using Klaus' own momentum to swing the other boy around and down to the ground. A flash of fear runs through Diego, like an alarm bell going off in his mind but it's completely unfounded as Klaus effortlessly breaks his fall into an elegant roll, as if this were more a dance than a fight.

As expected Klaus' leg flung out to try to knock Diego down, and Two bit his lip to fight back the urge to tap out before they had really begun. He would normally take the offence, diving in without preamble and forcing his opponent into a defence, but all Diego can summon is deflective moves that redirect Klaus elsewhere when Four tried to pull a move.

They seemed to dance like that for a few minutes, a growing frustration between them both as their fight slowly regressed into little more than a high paced game of tag. Reginald wanted them bruised, he wanted them aching with the intensity of their training. He wanted effective progress visible on their bodies and in their appetites at dinner afterwards, but Diego and Klaus both knew they would be disappointing their father that day.

Determined to power through the strange reluctance to fight Klaus fully, Diego grabbed Klaus' arm as it moved to catch his jaw and swung his brother over his shoulder, just as Luther had done Ben, and he made a small sound of surprise when instead of releasing him Klaus held on: pulling Diego down with him.

Klaus rolled them, knee to Diego's gut and hands on his shoulders. It was a move Diego had seen his siblings do and he'd performed himself many times, yet somehow this time when Klaus' pale, sweat shining face with spots of red blush on each cheek appears above him everything feels foreign.

Their eyes caught. Green on brown. To Klaus, Diego smelt strangely like leather, even though Diego wore none, and something floral. To Diego, Klaus smelt as smoky and warm as he had when he passed Diego at breakfast, only now it's intense. It filled every fibre of Diego's being. From fighting and sweating the scent radiating off Klaus was choking. His hair, in a mad mess of frizz, was silken between Diego's fingers as he slid a hand behind Klaus' head and pulled the other down to him.

Diego arched up as Klaus obediently lowered himself. A tiny voice in Diego's mind wondered for a split second if he was going mad, if he was going to kiss his brother. But instinct drew Diego not to Klaus' mouth, but his neck... to the soft point underneath his ear and parallel to the sharp edge of his jaw.

He bit down and tasted euphoria.

His body exploded with the new sensations. Happiness. Contentment. All the aggravation in his body quietened in that moment, and his body pressed itself closer to Klaus' to cradle him as his teeth sink further into Klaus' skin to break it. Two could feel Klaus' fingers gripping on tightly to his shoulders, his legs flexing around Diego's thighs.

The loud, elated gasp melting into a long moan that Klaus let out froze their brother's sparring session.

Pogo's chair clattered against the wall when the ape abruptly stood, and his hands fumbled to get to whistle between his lips. Diego released Klaus with a growl as the piercing sound of the whistle cut through his ears, the snarl deepening when Klaus let out a whine of pain in tandem: his thin hands letting go of Diego to cover his ears.

Klaus is ripped off him by Luther, who flicked his smaller brother into Ben's arms, and Diego let out a sound he had never made before.

A roar, a rumbling, snarling, angry around poisonous to the ears that slapped Luther in the face. It's enough to shock Diego out of whatever dream he had fallen into while sparring with Klaus, and in seconds Number Two shifted from predator to frightened young man staring up at his taller brother in fear.

"That is enough, Number Two!" Pogo shouted, radiating anger like none of them had ever seen before.

Diego blinked, shaking. "W-wuh... what... I don't, I'm suh-suh-suh-soh... I'm soh-"

His body hurt. It hurt so much. His vision buzzed and began to turn white, and on instinct he reached out to unexpectedly land in Luther's arms.

No. No. Not you. His mind complained, weakly batting away Luther's arms. Where had all his strength gone? Where had the rush of adrenaline and power gone to?

Faintly Diego could hear a flurry of movement and a weight dropping against him, and they smelled so nice and perfect and beautiful and wonderful and just like safety and he ju...

It was testament to Luther's super strength that he was able to hold up the weight of his brothers in his arms. The pair of them laid on one another, arms pathetically tangled in their delirious and desperate attempt to connect with each other again. In his right arm lay Diego and in his left Klaus, whom had shoved aside Ben to practically throw himself at the pair.

At a loss of what to do, Luther lowered the sleeping pair onto the training mat, and looked helplessly up at Pogo.

"Pogo, what happened?" Ben asked, eyes welling up both from stress and from worry seeing his brothers disappear from themselves and turn for a short time into nothing but creatures of instinct. "Pogo, are they okay?"

The ape moved closer, leaning down to brush aside a lock of Klaus' hair from behind his ear. Ben and Luther both hissed at the bite mark there.

"I thought we drew the line at biting" Luther stated, bemused.

Pogo sighed. "Go to your rooms, clean up and change. Find Grace and tell her to meet me here with blankets and water"

"Is everythi-"

"Now, Number Six"

Jumping at Pogo's strict tone, Ben does as he was told and scrambled out the door followed shortly his hesitant, larger brother. Once they are gone, their foot falls no longer audible to the ape's sensitive ears, Pogo dropped down to sit on the ground beside the two boys: a hand on each of their arms, thumb rubbing comforting circles he knew neither could feel in that moment.

"Oh my boys, my poor boys"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages! You keep me inspired x

Grace smoothed her hands over the blanket covering her boys, ever gentle and kind in her movements, but a keen eye would have noticed how her serene expression tightened when the android turned on her heels to face her creator: Sir Reginald.

"They're both clean and wrapped, biological markers indicate that there remains still four more hours of Tactile Bonding" She informed him, heels clicking as she moved to leave. Ever the ideal mother, Grace turned once more to gaze down lovingly at the sleeping pair.

Curled cosily in the bed of one of the many spare rooms in the house, wrapped up in blankets and clean from the sponge baths Grace had applied, lay Diego and Klaus. Their faces turned towards each other in their Bonding Sleep, arms positioned by Grace herself so their skin touched a healthy amount for the delicate bond forming. Diego's arm draped over Klaus' side, palm to bicep, and Klaus' palm resting sweetly on Diego's neck.

They looked beautiful. An irrational spark of code prompted Grace to take a snap shot and download it deep into her memory banks, some longing within her wanting to preserve the sight of her children so peaceful.

She dipped to pick up the bowls of water, murky from cleaning, and was careful not to let the momentum splash any on Reginald's suit despite the error in her programming wishing to. Crafted eyes study the sour look on her creator's face.

He said nothing to her, he never did unless he had to and the robot's step faltered by a microsecond when the sound of a door being locked reached her audio processors.

"Are Diego and Klaus okay?" A quiet voice asked, heard only by Grace as Reginald stiffly walked away in the other direction.

Little Vanya hid behind the corner, eyes wide and worried, and Grace deletes the prompt telling her to lightly scold Vanya for being up in loft without permission. Instead she balanced the two bowls on one arm, and used her spare hand to stroke her daughter's cheek.

"They will be, dear. They're going through a beautiful transformation right now, a wonder of nature if you will. I know it seems scary but it's all completely natural" Grace knew it went against her orders from Reginald. Her protocols forbade her from explaining anything of the sort to the teenagers in her care.

And yet.

Vanya looked sceptical. "Ben said Diego bit Klaus, and then they both fainted"

Grace's hand stroked down Vanya's hair. "You can tell Ben that even though it looked scary from an outsider's perspective, everything is okay"

It wasn't a promise she was entitled to make. Her coding brings up Reginald's displeased expression, twisting something inside her not meant to be felt by synthetic creations.

Perhaps. Grace recalled Pogo saying to her, with crystal clear vision upon her arrival in the gymnasium. This might mean Sir Hargreeves allows a mature education for the children ...

Pogo had laughed, tired and pained to himself. Children, we can hardly call them that anymore, certainly not now.

Grace dropped a kiss to Vanya's crown and trotted away. Skirt shifting with her steps.

* * *

 

When Klaus woke, it was to a dry mouth and a heat under his skin like nothing he had ever felt before. The only cool spots resided along his arm and under his palm.

Blearily, Klaus opened his eyes, relieved to find that it was not nearly as bright in the room as he had anticipated it being. Green eyes blinked away an uncomfortable blur and were immediately met by the sleeping face of one of his brothers.

Diego looked calm while sleeping. As if nothing in the world could reach him so long as his mind wandered in dreams and his eyes stayed closed. It was not the first time Klaus had woken up cuddled with a sibling, particularly Diego, but it had been years since the last time it happened. In more recent times Ben would only come by if Klaus screamed awake. The era of them slipping under the covers, Ben's, Diego's, Klaus', together to fall asleep a little less afraid of demons, ghosts and tanks of water were long over.

It wasn't until Klaus sat up in bed and looked around that he realised this was neither his own room nor Diego's. It was larger, foreign, but still distinctively Academy Klaus' gut instinct fear of kidnap was silenced as soon as it rose. His skin prickled painfully as he threw his legs over the side of the double bed and even the soles of his feet seemed to burn as he padded around the room. Instead of gym clothes, Klaus saw he was dressed in soft cotton pajamas and his skin smelt clean, rather than begining to stagnate from sweat. It looked like they were in an attic room, from the pointed ceiling and low hanging sides: an arching lone window to the north of the spare room. Klaus tried to look out of it, brushing aside the curtains but was disappointed to see the familiar sight of the courtyard below: no new exciting discoveries there.

Deciding that the barren room was explored fully, Klaus checked Diego once more before sauntering over to the door. Pretending like each step further from Two didn't send hot fire through his blood, weakening his movements and sparking stars in his vision.

His hand landed on the door handles and behind him Klaus' heard a hiss of pain, followed by a confused sound telling him Diego had woken. Klaus turned the knob. It barely moved an inch.

He tried again and again, panic beginning to rise in the young man. Klaus hated being trapped, no matter how big the cage, not being able to roam as desired terrified him.

"K-k-k-klaus?" A pained whine split through the room, cutting like a knife through the rising panic attack bubbling in Klaus' chest.

Klaus snapped around, eyes wide and haunted as he met Diego's bewildered and sleepy gaze. "We're shut it. It's locked. Dad's locked us in here, Di. We did something wrong and now we're shut in here-"

Klaus' hysteria cut short when Diego gracelessly rolled off the bed and tripped over himself and the covers wrapped around his ankles to reach Klaus. He didn't know why, but the pitch of his brother's voice and the burning fire over his flesh screamed at him to *touch*.

A sigh rushed from their lips when Diego's fumbling hands landed awkwardly on Klaus' neck, cupping his head. A cool breeze washed down Diego's arms, down Klaus' collar and over his shoulders, like an aloe balm to a harsh sunburn. Klaus didn't know when his hands moved, but suddenly one hand on Diego's bare arm, exposed from the short sleeves of their plain pajamas, and the other is holding his cheek.

The soothing aura spread.

"W-w-we aren't trapped. Dad w-w-will let us out, Klaus. It's oh-oh-okay" Diego stuttered out, somehow not as angry or frustrated at his returning stutter as he felt he ought to be.

  
Their eyes met steadily, slowly nodding at one another to reaffirm Diego's claim. Everything was okay. Okay.

  
"Okay" Klaus replied thickly, pads of his fingers trailing up Diego's arm leaving goosebumps in his wake. He still felt like he was burning all over, but where their skin meets there's a blissful release. Klaus shivered when Diego rubbed his thumbs in circles over his jaw, spreading a lulling feeling of peace over him, and blinked when he noticed Diego's own deepened breathing as Klaus' palm stroked up his neck and cheek: face tilting subtly into it.

  
They're closer than they've ever been before outside of sparring, well into each others personal space and breathing in the unique scents of the other they swore hadn't been there the day before. Diego started when their foreheads bumped from leaning forward without them realising, without conscious thought, and their eyes met. Brown on green. Dark on light.

  
"You're so p-p-puh... Pretty" Diego's mouth blurted, tumbling out the impulse thought in his head staring at his brother's rosy cheeks, red parted lips and open expression. People had called Klaus pretty before, pretty like they called Allison pretty, but had always said Diego, Ben and Luther were handsome. Klaus got called pretty ever since he first appeared in public with eyeliner and lipgloss on and Diego remembered feeling a flare of jealousy.

  
He'd wanted to be pretty too.

  
Klaus didn't say it back, but his reverent gaze and the finger tips delicately tracing Diego's features felt more honest than echoing the words.

  
Feelings of claustrophobia and panic drifted away with the room as Klaus focused on Diego's doe eyed features, fascinated by how warm light made his skin glow. At Diego's words Klaus' breathing hitched, and after a moment of hesitation he tilted his head to the side and pressed a simple, dry kiss to Diego's perfect lips. He liked how Diego's eyelashes fluttered from the touch, and Klaus hummed in satisfaction when instead of shoving him away Diego instead wrapped his arms tightly around his waist and kissed him back.

  
It was like floating, the feeling of kissing Diego. Klaus had kissed boys before, he'd even kissed girls, and he'd entertained the thought of kissing his brother, but he'd never thought it would actually happen. Ben had rolled his eyes when Klaus confided, whispering in the night, that he thought Diego was hot, then Ben had mumbled something about their family being messed up and that had silenced Klaus from ever mentioning it again. It never occurred to him before then that wanting to kiss a boy you grew up with was somehow wrong, he never thought that the reason Allison and Luther snuck around was because the world wouldn't like the thought of them rather than the pair just being shy.

  
As if sensing Klaus' distressed train of thought, Diego's teeth nipped his lips to bring him back to the now, surprising a moan from them both at the sensation it sparked through their bodies like lightning. Suddenly just touching didn't feel enough, dry kisses not deep enough. They needed to be closer.

  
Closer, closer, closer.

  
Klaus' back hit the door and Diego crowded in closer, licking into Klaus' mouth with a sudden fervour returned in full by the way thin, pale fingers scraped up along his scalp. The desire to hold Klaus came over him in a wave and Diego dipped down, neck craning, to awkwardly bat at Klaus' leg until he got purchase behind his knee: rising in a stumbling move to hoist Klaus up. His brother let out a surprised sound, one that bled into a deep, pleased groan and Klaus wrapped his legs around Diego's waist to enjoy the new closeness the position granted. A strong hand moved up his thigh and slid straight under his nightshirt, arching Klaus' spine into the touch with Diego's knife worn pads dipping into the curves of Klaus back and ribs.

  
"Dee" Klaus breathed into Diego's mouth, lost on the sensations. His skin tingled but it still wasn't enough, none of it was enough. He needed Diego closer. No, not closer... In.

  
For a split second Klaus thought it was a stupid word to use, before another part of his brain caught up and remembered something an ex-boyfriend had wanted to do to him.

  
_I want to be inside you. Fuck you. Can I?_

  
Klaus had said no, his siblings were sleeping and god forbid his dad was also in the house. His boyfriend had taken it as a harsh rejection and never came by again, leaving Klaus crying to Allison and Vanya, who both scowled and said all boys were assholes.

  
"Fuck me" Klaus groaned out, unfamiliar lingo on his tongue. Diego stared at him, dazed and confused. Of course, if Klaus hadn't known then why the hell would Diego. He licked his lips in thought, delighting at how Diego's blown eyes dropped to his mouth to watch. "Um, I mean I want you... I want you to put your dick in... In me"

  
Sixteen and they had only the most basic concept of sex. God their father was an asshole.

  
Sure Diego understood what sex was. He and Luther had seen porn magazines in a store they saved from being robbed once, and someone once sent a horrible letter about wanting to do things to Ben that Reginald burned with a rage in his eyes they for once agrees wholeheartedly with, not to mention the nature documentaries Reginald let them watch, but knowing about something was different from the reality of it. He was hard, uncomfortably so against Klaus, and could feel his brother was too. He'd thought at first that they might just jack off like they would when they were alone in their rooms and frustrated about a smile from a fan with her top cut low or something equally vanilla, but now Klaus had said it...

  
Now he'd said it, it felt like all Diego wanted in the world.

  
"Yeah" Diego preened from getting the word out without stuttering. His pretty, pretty brother always had a way of bringing out the stumbling voice in Diego. "Yeah, yeah, I want... I want that too"

Klaus smiled then, lighting up his whole face, all teeth and panting, with his arms hooked over Diego's shoulders, and Two returned it giddily. The need is frighteningly intense, every second that passed without it hurt more and more, but it was so much more bearable when he got to see Klaus' smile.

  
Diego folded his arms under Klaus' ass for support as he stepped away from the door, carrying Four over to the bed instead. Klaus bounced on the mattress, nearly headbutting Diego, and he giggled loudly: enjoying the feeling of Diego kissing his forehead and then lowering down his body to pull up his shirt. He reached out to catch the hem of Diego's shirt as his brother went down, using Diego's own movement to pull the shirt over his head, and Klaus flicked the item away to then smooth his palms over his brother's muscled shoulders. Diego, and Luther, had really begun to fill out from their daily training and missions, a fact Ben seemed to be jealous of while Klaus had simply sat back and admired. Fans liked to fawn over how big Luther and Diego were, while Ben got attention for how sweet he was to victims and in interviews. In Klaus' opinion, Diego's filled out body was not nearly as impressive as his smile, or how his eyes wrinkled when he laughed, or how Diego could never manage a proper wink...

  
Klaus jumped when, without any finesse, Diego pulled off his pants and underwear. As Diego got off the bed to kick off his own remaining clothes, Klaus fumbled to yank off his shirt, laughing when he accidentally flicked it at Diego's head even though his brother deftly dodged it.

  
"Hey" Diego murmured, suddenly quiet. With no clothes between them, the ache had returned tenfold. Klaus' burned all over, and he reached out to Diego with groping hands, a reach that Diego desperately dropped into with a sigh and wet kisses up Klaus' stomach and chest. He wanted to stop and appreciate Diego naked, and be appreciated in return, but his body hurt and he just wanted Diego between his legs that instant. They groaned together when their bodies met, cocks rubbing and sending a wave of cool bliss over their prickling flesh.

  
Klaus kissed Diego deeply, hands in his hair and teeth on his lips, and hooked his legs around Diego's hips again pulling him as close as possible. Still not close enough.

  
"Need-"

  
"I know" Diego whined, hot mouth dropping to suck at a spot under Klaus' ear. A spot Klaus vaguely recalled Diego biting him before he'd passed out.

  
Being touched by another was different, better, than his own hand and Diego closed his eyes at the feeling of Klaus' nails and skin on him, before dropping his gaze and one hand to line his cock up to his brother's wet, slick entrance. Diego looked at Klaus, and Klaus at him. Then he pushed in.

  
With zero skill Diego rutted up into Klaus, sliding in easily from the slick dripping from inside Klaus, and he marveled at the sight of Klaus' head tipping back against the pillows with a loud cry. Instinct buzzed in his head, driving his body, rocking his hips up into Klaus as the others thin hips ground down eagerly.

  
"Ah, fuck yes. Oh fuck yes, Diego. Fuck" Klaus let out loud gasps with each thrust, his nails raking pleasurably over Diego's scalp as he hugged on tightly to him. If it would have felt as good as this if he'd let his old boyfriend do as he wanted, Klaus couldn't have cared less, because Diego moving inside him, gasping above him, moaning and stuttering his name into his ear between nibbling on that same sensitive spot under his ear, had to be as good as it got.

  
Diego jerked his hips as hard and fast as what little experience he had would let him, thrilled by the happy moans Klaus gave with each one. He felt like he was floating, the burning sensation abated by Klaus touch and his warm, wet ass. He wanted to say more, he wanted to gush about how he wished they'd done this sooner, how beautiful Klaus was, how good he felt and how amazing he sounded: but the only word he could manage was Klaus' name over and over again, chaste to Klaus' endless litany.

  
Embarrassingly and unsurprisingly, two teenage boys did not last long. Klaus came first, screaming out and clenching hard around Diego, forcing an orgasm out of him shortly after. His fingers bluntly dug into Diego's back, and on the tail end of his cry Klaus' mouth dropped to Diego's neck and bit down hard. He didn't know why and didn't care: Klaus just... needed to bite him there, a copy of where Diego bit him. Between the clenching of Klaus around him and the returning mating bite on his neck, Diego came hard, stars dancing in his vision and he felt himself swelling inside Klaus.

  
He dropped, limp over Klaus, and buried his face into his brother's neck, smiling when Klaus curled in closer to cuddle.

  
For a few minutes the only sounds were heaving pants. Then, finally, Diego caught his breath first by gift of his powers, and he let out a relieved laugh. He felt good, raw but good, and the unbearable burn was gone. In its place was a welcome hum of content, and the spot on his neck where Klaus bit him tingled pleasantly. The bite felt oddly nice, like something was reciprocated somehow. Diego felt wanted. Like Klaus had chosen him the same way Diego felt he'd somehow chosen Klaus by biting him in the gymnasium.

  
Klaus joined in breathlessly, wiping sweat from his face and smacking a sloppy kiss to Diego's temple. He felt sappy and sated, and the only thing he wanted to do now was cuddle, sleep and bath.

  
Their happy bubble burst when Diego moved to pull out, drawling a sharp hiss of pain from Klaus and a grunt of discomfort from Diego.

  
"Um" Diego hoisted himself up on his elbows, looking down at Klaus. "I can't move"

  
Four nodded slowly, drawing circles absently on Diego's shoulder blades. "Uh yeah, don't. That hurt like a bitch. Never move again"

  
Diego rolled his eyes. "I gotta move sometime, Klaus"

  
Experimentally, Diego rolled his hips but froze immediately when Klaus flinched.

  
An awkward silence followed. Too tired to hold himself up anymore, Diego laid back down over Klaus and rested his cheek on the others jutting collarbone.

  
"Is this suppose to happen?" Klaus asked, staring at the ceiling. His fingers tapped idly on Diego's skin.

  
Diego snorted. "How the hell do I know? It's got to go down though, right?"

  
"Has it ever done that before?" Klaus subconsciously squeezed around Diego's cock, drawing out and oversensitised whimper from both. Diego shook his head. "I feel sticky"

  
Diego nodded.

  
"We're gonna be here a while aren't we?" Klaus laughed quietly, too sleepy to panic. Too content in the feeling of closeness for hysteria to fully reach him.

  
Diego nodded again.

  
"Do you thi-"

  
"Go the fuck to sleep Klaus. Whatever... _this_ is: m'tired to deal now. All I know is it doesn't feel wrong"

  
Klaus hummed in agreement. On the contrary, Diego swollen inside him, filling and stretching him, felt right. Very, very right.

  
Exhausted the pair drifted off to sleep, grossly sticky and curled up together as close as they could get: noses nuzzled into each others comforting scent.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: illusions to abortions. 
> 
> Note!! The disapproval and condemning in this chapter does NOT relate to abortions or people who choose to have them, but in the lack of consent in Klaus' case. Everyone is angry because Reginald stole the choice away from Klaus before Klaus even knew what any of it meant. Reginald is a controlling piece of shit and everyone except Luther knows it.
> 
> Everyone deserves the chance to decide!! No on else gets to do that for them.

When Diego woke up, they had separated sometime while they slept, and he finds himself crusted to Klaus. It's gross and even though he wanted to stay bundled up with his brother, the need to clean them up was overpowering.

  
Carefully extracting himself from Klaus' gangly arms, Diego rolled off the bed and curled his lip at Klaus' dried come on his stomach. Dark eyes searched the room, trying to find anything that might work to clean them off, and everything is barren. The drawers are empty, there's no stray sock under the bed: they're probably the first people to set foot in the room in years. Resigning himself to having to use a corner of the bed sheets, Diego pulled on his pants and set about scrubbing off his stomach. It came off easily, but left a raw mark on his skin from the rubbing and Diego hesitated: the thought of roughly scrubbing Klaus' skin raw made his gut churn, but so did the thought of leaving Klaus lying in his own mess.

  
Awkwardly and with a wince, Diego cleaned off his junk and then kneeled back on the bed. With careful hands and the lightest pressure, Diego started to swipe off as best he could the mess on Klaus. He noticed the moment Klaus' breathing changed, and looked up with soft eyes and a small smile to see Klaus blinking awake groggily. Klaus had never been one for waking up quickly, always frustrating their father with his lack of haste and fumbling attempts to keep up with the others. Although impractical for their lives Diego had always privately found Klaus' morning daze cute, and he wondered if what they had done together now meant he could tell Klaus that without being teased or have spread around their siblings for them to then tease Diego.

  
"D'nuh'tim?" Klaus slurred, rubbing his eye and stretching out like a cat. Diego breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Klaus saw nothing odd about Diego's unexpected grooming instincts.

  
"Nope" Diego popped, flicking the dirty bed sheet corner away with a curl of his lip. He didn't like the red marks on Klaus' skin, but it was unavoidable and his brother hadn't noticed nor cared. "There's no clock in here but it is still day time outside. I'd estimate it's late afternoon, sun'll probably set soon"

  
Four nodded along, to Diego's amusement, likely not truly processing what his brother was saying. Diego frowned, referring to them as brothers felt deeply wrong now, but he wasn't sure else to use.

  
He crossed his legs on the bed, watching Klaus scoot up to lean on the headrest, and fiddled with the hem of one pant leg as he waited for the sleepy fog to leave Klaus' eyes. Lately Klaus' once sharp green eyes, eyes that caught and catalogued everything, were dulled by the weed Klaus had taken to smoking in excess. Diego could remember Ben warning Klaus that drugging himself up solved nothing, that the path would lead him to harder and more dangerous drugs, and Two wondered when he and Klaus had grown so far a part that Diego hadn't been in that room too backing Ben up. Something within Diego growled disapprovingly at his own past dismissal of Klaus' well being, shaming him for not taking more note of the bad habits Klaus was turning to, and leaving it up to Ben alone to try and combat it before it got worse.

  
Diego blinked out of his downward spiral when a cool palm cupped his face, and he focused to see Klaus smiling lazily at him. His cheeks flushed when Klaus' thumb brushed over his cheekbone. For all his flirty nature and habit of leaning too close when he spoke to people, Klaus rarely broke the barrier and touched others first: usually leaving it up to them to reach out, which anyone aside from Ben and Diego rarely did.

  
"Not to make this weird but I really just wanna touch you" Klaus drawled, huffing a small, breathy laugh at himself.

  
Diego cocked an eyebrow, but covered Klaus' hand with his own. Quietly preening at the admission. "We fucked, Klaus. The line of weird has been crossed"

  
A small sound left Klaus' throat, and before Diego knows what's happening he's being kissed. His free hand moves straight to Klaus' face, holding it like it's something precious, and he lets Klaus take the lead now; none of the previous need to be in control broiled in his stomach anymore, and although he was reluctant to admit it, Klaus was far more experienced in kissing than he was.

  
Kissing Klaus sober, without the strange haze that took over them, felt infinitely more real and clear than having sex did. He could feel Klaus' soft, religiously moisturised lips across his own slightly chapped ones. Klaus' light stubble rubbed across his own as their kiss deepened, he can taste Klaus' tongue and moaned at the feel of Klaus' teeth catching his lip and Four's tongue licking into his mouth. Though passionate, the kiss doesn't stir arousal, it's too lazy and too content. It was nice just to feel Klaus, and how his curly hair felt between his fingers when he moved up to brush it back.

  
They pulled away, Klaus gasping for breath, and rested their foreheads together. Diego opened his eyes first and memorised every inch of Klaus' blissed out face. Long lashes across his sharp cheekbones, reddened lips parted and cheeks pink.

  
"D-d-do y-"

  
The door rattled violently as it was unlocked, and the young men jumped when the door swung open. They jerked a part, attention snapping to Reginald, who marched into the room and stood by the bed to look down at them with barely contained disgust. Following him came Grace, who breezed in far more peacefully.

  
"Number Two, go downstairs, wash and meet your siblings in the foyer for the evening run" Reginald snapped at them, and when they gaped up at him without moving, he inhaled sharply through his nose. "Now, Number Two"

  
Diego shot a glance at Klaus, who met it with a wide eyed look of his own, and tripped out of the room. He misjudged the doorway, and landed into it, stopping to look back at Klaus who was now sitting fully upright in the bed. He didn't want to leave, the same growling instinct in him demanded to stay with Klaus, but a subtle head shake from the other boy as if Klaus could read his mind deflated his resolve. Dragging his feet, Diego jogged out the room and found the stairs, noting that their father had locked them up in the attic.

  
When he made it to the bathroom, he passed Allison, who gave him a puzzled look at his state of undress, prowling in only his pants, and restless agitation.

She didn't comment though, and Diego was glad.

* * *

 

  
Once Diego was gone, Reginald took a step back and turned to examine a poster while Klaus scrambled to pull on his discarded pajama pants and shirt. The shirt fit too big and smelt floral, and Klaus couldn't help the tiny smile realising he had put on Diego's by accident.

  
"Why were they not separated before this could happen?" Reginald suddenly asked, turning to the android, who's attention snapped from watching Klaus with fondness to staring at him blankly like the robot she was suppose to be.

  
"I was in the middle of the children's tutoring and Va- Number Seven cut her hand. It needed stitches: oh, she was so brave" Grace smiled serenely.

  
Klaus hugged his legs, brought close to his chest, as he watched his parents talk. He felt vulnerable, always did when Reginald was near and none of his siblings were around. Grace's presence did not offer the same comfort, not when her programming defaulted to obeying Reginald's every command. Klaus felt eight years old again terrified of being dragged back into the darkness of the crypt.

  
"Unacceptable. Numbers Two and Four take priority over Number Seven, Grace. I shall have to review your programming" The man observed, looking away before he could catch the distressed flutter of Grace's eyes and how her mouth tensed in it's fake smile.

  
Reginald reached into his breast pocket and brought out a tin. It was then that Klaus noticed the glass of water in Grace's hand, as Reginald opened the tin to reveal a single foil sealed pill. Klaus couldn't read the pharmacy print on it, not when Reginald ripped the packet open.

  
"Hand" Reginald ordered, and Klaus obediently held out his palm. His father dropped the pill into Klaus' hand and stepped back, in his place coming Grace with the water. "Take it"

  
Klaus swallowed. The white tablet sat in his palm, small and innocuous. "What is it?"

  
"None of your concern, Number Four. Take it"

  
Grace passed him the water and Klaus reluctantly popped the pill into his mouth. He had taken things before, whatever he could get his hands on from the guy down the side alley of the donut shop the siblings visited, and never minded: too focused on the reprieve from ghosts to care what drug he was putting into his body, he let Ben fret over that. But Klaus didn't feel as though this pill would make the spirits go away.

  
Behind Grace and Reginald, a woman stood shaking her head sadly, and next to her an old man grumbling too low for Klaus to understand. The ghosts had given him privacy with Diego, but now they were popping up with every breath, a handful joining the first woman in their disapproval of what Klaus was being given.

  
"Oh poppet" An old lady sighed in an English accent when Klaus sipped the water and the pill went down.

  
Klaus opened his mouth for Reginald to check he had swallowed it, feeling ill when the man nodded grimly.

  
A man drifted though the bed to stand next to Klaus. His throat was slashed. "We'll stay with you, son."

  
Klaus had no idea what they were talking about, but for once he didn't mind the gathering of spirits around him when Grace and Reginald walked out without another word. The door locked behind them.

 

* * *

 

  
A soft voice was singing in Spanish. A cool breeze settled over his sweating forehead.

  
His head pounded. His stomach churned.

  
"Trash can here, sugar" Someone whispered, with the ghosts parting to show Klaus where it was as he stumbles towards it. What little was in his stomach heaved into the can.

  
"Waiting fer tha' man, waiting fer him" A man was repeating over and over, pacing the room with a gunshot wound to his ribs.

  
Klaus whined, dropping to the floor with head paining and limbs heavy.

  
A woman's voice tsked. "Fancy not telling him what it was. Omega Rights! He should have been allowed to decide. Lord knows he's old enough to"

  
A few echoed 'Omega Rights' and Klaus didn't know what they were talking about. Didn't care. He hurt all over, the room span.

  
Klaus sobbed into the hard wooden floor, curling up into a fetal position to feebly ease the cramps in his stomach. Once again he felt something cool prickle over his hair and across his burning head, but he squeezed his eyes shut, filled with tears, so he couldn't see the gashes down the woman's wrist.

  
"There, there, little omy. It won't last much longer, you're just unlucky with the side effects"

  
Klaus let out another whine as his stomach rolled, and for the first time since he was a child, all the ghosts around him were kind.

 

* * *

 

Diego didn't see Klaus again until just after lunch the following day, after a night tossing and turning desperately worried about Klaus. Ben had come in, unable to sleep either, and the pair sat together in the dark hands held, waiting for any sign of their brother.

  
Everyone was gathered in the living room, Ben reading, Allison flipping through a magazine while Vanya filled the room with violin music, and Diego played a lack luster game of snap against Luther. The goal of Hargreeves snap was always to try and get Luther energised enough by the game to slam down hard and broke the table, but without Klaus' sly grin and encouraging comments, Diego couldn't have cared less if Luther punched through reality itself.

  
Reginald walked through the archway into the room, his taller son somehow seeming smaller than him as Klaus followed behind. His brother was pale, exhausted to his core, and Diego jumped to attention to reach him. He reached for Klaus instinctively, longing to hold him and somehow make the dark cloud looming over Klaus go away, but before he could the end of a cane poked him in the chest.

  
"Number Two control yourself" Father snapped. "Attacking your brother again will result in further punishment"

  
Diego recoiled, stomach dropping at his father's choice of words. Attacking? Again?

  
"I-I-I I nuh-nuh-never hurt Kuh-K-Klaus" His head shook, denying it all and trying to meet Klaus' eyes over their fathers shoulder. Klaus looked lost, vacant and his chest fluttered when his eyes finally settled on Diego. Two grit his teeth against his stutter, and moved closer to Reginald, chest puffing up defensively. "W-w-what did you do to him?"

  
"Diego" Luther hissed under his breath, coming up behind Diego. Ever on their father's side, little golden boy. "Back off"

  
Allison had tossed aside her magazine to instead stand defensively by Luther's side, and the sweet violin music had stopped as Vanya hovered in the background unsure of what to do.

  
The only one who stood by Diego's side was Ben, who reached out to Klaus and drew him into a hug Diego desperately wanted to give Four too. Diego moved to join, but once more a hard poke to his solar plexus stopped him in his tracks: only this time the beast brewing inside ripped it's way out, snarling at Reginald without conscious thought from Two himself. He just wanted to hug Klaus, was that such a goddamn crime.

  
The moment the foreign sound left Diego's lips, and he took a step forward, Reginald swiftly moved the cane and swung it.

  
Vanya shrieked at the crack the cane made against Diego's face, her hands covering her ears. Behind her the window overlooking the courtyard cracked at the edges, tiny and imperceptible. Her bow hit the floor.

  
"Dad!" Allison shouted, diving around Luther to drop to Diego's side on the ground, the sleeve of her cardigan already bundled up to press against the split in her brother's face. Dumbly, Luther stood in shock, eyes flicking from his fallen brother to his father, who stared sternly down at Diego remorselessly.

  
"You are an Alpha now, Number Two. You will need additional training to control your aggression"

  
Allison gaped up at him. "What aggression, dad? He just wanted to see Klaus. You... You were the one who-"

  
Behind Reginald Ben scrambled to keep hold of Klaus, but before Allison could finish Ben lost the battle, Klaus slipping through his fingers and leaping onto Reginald's back. In her book, years later, Vanya would write about that afternoon: about how surprise looked on her usually stoic father's face when Klaus attacked him from behind.

  
She would write about how Reginald had never hit any of them before and never did again, but the one time he did his cane split the skin: Diego needed stitches and would have a long scar from well into his hairline, over the top of his ear and ending at his cheekbone. A scar the public would assume he got from his own knives or in a fight.

  
She would write in her book that she had never felt so angry and frightened than in that moment. Watching Luther ripping Klaus off of their father, whom Klaus had scratched at like he was a feral cat, while Ben tried to talk sense into his riled and fight ready brother. Seeing Allison dragging Diego away to find mom so she could deal with the blood pouring down the side of Two's face.

  
In spite of her siblings' distress and her own horror at the line their father crossed out of fear of Alphas, Vanya also wrote that the shocked look on her father's face gave her the grimmest satisfaction for years to come.

  
The aftermath was simple. Diego was stitched up and then ordered to take meditation training everyday until he 'learned to control himself'. Klaus was shut back in the attic until his screaming calmed and he unconvincingly promised not to leap on Reginald again. A week after it all, the pair were permitted to appear in public again and go on missions, and the media went crazy for the Mating Bands around their middle left fingers, and the bite scars clearly visible with no long hair to hide them.

  
It was not until after Ben died that Allison found out what happened, that Reginald had forced Klaus to take the morning after pill and then left him to writhe in the side effects for hours until they wore off.

  
When the news broke through the house about what Reginald had done years before, Luther was the only one who stayed. He was the only one who could stand to look at their father anymore.

  
Allison left for LA. Vanya left to take up three jobs to cover her rent until she could establish a place in an orchestra. And Klaus left in the night, disappearing before Diego had the chance to ask him to come with him, away from all the Academy bullshit, leaving Diego to move out alone and enroll in the police academy: checking around every day for reports of a junkie with tattoos on his palms.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This series is not over!! The next fic in the line picks up where the show starts, but will cover the time between when Ben died at 21 and everyone left, and when they all arrive back for Reginald's funeral.
> 
>  
> 
> To be clear, Reginald hit Diego because the asshole thought he was 'defendinf himself against the dangerous Alpha'. I don't personally believe Reginald ever hit the children in the show, which makes his actions here all the more shocking for the kids. 
> 
> Mating Bands are basically like in universe versions of wedding bands. They let the world know these people are mated, but they're traditionally dark copper, and sit on the middle finger as opposed to the marital ring finger since mating is different from marriage.

**Author's Note:**

> for everyone in the kliego discord ~


End file.
